2017 Paris ePrix
2017 Monaco ePrix |next = 2017 Berlin ePrix I}} The 2017 Paris ePrix, otherwise known as the 2017 Qatar Airways Paris ePrix, was the seventh round of the 2016/17 FIA Formula E Championship, staged on the Circuit des Invalides at the Les Invalides in the heart of the French capital city, Paris, on 20 May 2017.'Qatar Airways becomes Official Airline Partner', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 03/05/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/may/qatar-airways-becomes-official-airline-partner/, (Accessed 04/05/2017) The race, which would run back to back with the Monaco ePrix, was the second to be staged on the Les Invalides circuit, which would remain unchanged for its second FE bow.'From Hong Kong to New York: FIVE NEW CITIES FOR THIRD FORMULA E SEASON', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 02/07/2016), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2016/july/from-hong-kong-to-new-york/, (Accessed 02/07/2016) Qualifying saw Paris-born Jean-Éric Vergne miss out on pole position by just six thousandths of a second, beaten by Championship leader in the Super Pole shootout. Third went to , while would start from fourth after Oliver Turvey was handed a ten place grid penalty. A strong start from home hero Vergne would not be enough to see him surge past Buemi into turn one, the Swiss racer easily able to defend from the Frenchman into turn one.'Buemi hands Renault e.dams emotional Paris win', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 20/05/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/may/buemi-hands-renault-edams-emotional-paris-win/, (Accessed 21/05/2017) The rest of the field squeezed through with the usual bumps and scrapes, with a few drivers, including Lucas di Grassi, picking up damage to the nose. The order soon settled down, with Buemi sprinting clear of Vergne, while Gutierrez was steadily dropped by the pair of them. Indeed, the Mexican was forming something of a bottle neck in the second Techeetah, and it took a lot of muscling by Lopez to move back into the podium spots. There was action further back as Daniel Abt picked his way through the Gutierrez queue, while di Grassi fought a vicious duel with . Indeed, it would be this duel that entertained the fans in between the series of passes on Gutierrez, both Nick Heidfeld and teammate Felix Rosenqvist moved past the black-gold car. The di Grassi/da Costa fight saw some questionable defending by both, with positions exchanged a few times, before di Grassi tried an ambitious move around the outside of the Portuguese racer into turn one. Unfortunately the Brazilian decided to squeeze da Costa as the pair came to the apex, and with nowhere to the Andretti duly slammed into the ABT Schaeffler. A Full Course Yellow was called soon after the accident, for da Costa was buried in the tyre wall, while di Grassi managed to get back to the pits. He, like the rest of the field bar Mike Conway would change cars under FCY conditions, despite the fact that the race was still shy of half-distance. Indeed, when the race resumed there were still twenty eight laps to go, with Conway stopping six laps later, and was duly lapped. The rest of the race saw Vergne pacing Buemi, as di Grassi and Sam Bird battled for fastest lap after mutually bad afternoons, the former getting slapped with a drive through penalty for exiting the pit lane before the minimum pitstop time. As they duelled off the track, taking turns to head out on circuit before stopping in the pits, Vergne slowly chipped into Buemi's advantage, only for an epic finish to be denied by mechanical strife. Indeed, with only fifteen laps to go, and just two seconds between them, Vergne suffered a steering failure and slammed into the wall, bringing out the BMW Qualcomm i8 safety car. Once that was cleared hopes of a fight all but disappeared, with Lopez no real match for Buemi despite the elimination of the gap between them. Ultimately, the race would finish under a second safety car, as di Grassi locked up and ended his miserable day in the barriers at turn one, moments after starting a flying lap to challenge Bird. With that the race result was all but declared, with Buemi claiming victory ahead of Lopez, taking his first podium finish, and Heidfeld. The rest of the field down to sixth placed Robin Frijns then crossed the line in short order, before Gutierrez nearly caused a melee by backing up the rest of the runners. The reason for the bunching was because the Mexican had been slapped with a five second time penalty for speeding during the FCY, although his attempts to salvage a points finish in the safety car queue, by sprinting for the line, ultimately faltered. Background One major change to the entry list ahead of the Paris ePrix was the return of Mike Conway to a race seat, replacing at Dragon Racing.'Conway to replace Duval for Paris ePrix', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 18/04/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/april/conway-to-replace-duval-for-paris-eprix/, (Accessed 18/04/2017) Duval would be racing in the DTM that weekend, racing for Dragon's FE rivals Audi, meaning Brit Conway would drive an FE car for the first time since the season finale for the 2015/16 Championship. It would also be something of a homecoming for Conway, as he rejoined a team he had originally signed for ahead of the inaugural 2014/15 Championship, before both parties parted company ahead of the 2014 Beijing ePrix. Another team having to field a revised driver line-up in Paris were Venturi, who would lose Maro Engel to the DTM due to the German's association with Mercedes.'Tom Dillmann gets Paris Venturi call-up', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 24/04/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/april/tom-dillmann-gets-paris-venturi-call-up/, (Accessed 24/04/2017) In his place would come Frenchman Tom Dillmann, who had previously completed the shakedown session for the team at the Mexico City ePrix when lead driver was unavailable. The Frenchman brought with him a vast array of experience in other single-seater Championships, and had previously tested an FE car at the 2015 Donington Test with the fallen Team Aguri effort. Monte Carlo Motoring Victory and pole in Monte Carlo had ease away in the Championship standings, the Swiss racer also becoming the first driver to break the 100 point barrier. Lucas di Grassi remained in second, fifteen points behind, with those two looking set to duel for the title once again. Behind, Nicolas Prost fell further back in third, remaining ahead of the non-scoring Jean-Éric Vergne, while Nick Heidfeld moved to within striking distance of fifth placed Sam Bird. It was Renault e.Dams who continued to lead the Teams' Championship after the Monaco ePrix, the French squad heading to their home race with 152 points on the board. ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport sat in their familiar second place, the only other team now in triple figures for the season after a fairly strong weekend in Monte Carlo. Mahindra Racing had leapt into third, swapping places with now fifth placed DS Virgin Racing, while Techeetah remained in fourth. Entry List The full entry list for the is displayed below: Practice FP1 FP2 Qualifying Qualifying would run to its usual format in Paris, with four groups of five drivers randomly drawn before the session.'Buemi and di Grassi drawn in same qually group', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 20/05/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/may/buemi-and-di-grassi-drawn-in-same-qually-group/, (Accessed 20/05/2017) Each of the four quintets would get six minutes on circuit to set one full 200 kw/h lap time, before the top five overall moved through to the Super Pole shootout. The Super Pole shootout would see the fastest five hit the circuit one-by-one to try and grab pole, with the rest of the grid formed from times set in the group stage. Group 1 Arguably the most anticipated group of the afternoon would be the first, for both Championship leader and closest rival Lucas di Grassi would be in action. The former was among the favourites for pole, while the latter needed to narrow the gap in the Championship by denying Buemi pole. The rest of the group was high on quality too, with Sam Bird, the second ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport entry of Daniel Abt, and Felix Rosenqvist also in action. Amid collective fears that the circuit would get quicker later in the session, all five group one contenders remained opted to sit in the pits, rather than go out first and sweep the circuit for the rest.'Watch Formula E Qualifying LIVE From Paris - 2017 FIA Formula E Qatar Airways Paris ePrix', youtube.com, (YouTube: FIA Formula E Championship, 20/05/2017), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVyjbq2hCbM, (Accessed 20/05/2017) Ultimately it was Bird who went first, although in doing so he made sure that he would be the slowest driver of the group with a scruffy lap. His time was instantly bettered by Rosenqvist and then Buemi, who went fastest with a 1:02.171, while di Grassi and Abt were disappointing slow, over six tenths behind the Swiss star.'Buemi denies JEV Qatar Airways Paris ePrix pole', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 20/05/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/may/buemi-denies-jev-qatar-airways-paris-eprix-pole/, (Accessed 20/05/2017) Group 2 Nelson Piquet Jr. seemed to be the favourite to get into Super Pole from the second group, the NextEV NIO driver famously strong on one-lap pace. Nicolas Prost needed to improve on his quali-form to really support Renault e.Dams teammate Buemi, while was was an outside shot for Super Pole. Mitch Evans in the Jaguar and FE returnee Mike Conway would hope to challenge for the top ten. Unlike the first group the members of the second quintet decided to hit the circuit right from the get go, with Prost leading them out of the pits. For Prost it was a disappointing run, for he was beaten by a flying Lopez, who went second fastest. Evans caused a stir by going fourth overall, and therefore ahead of Prost, by going out last of all, while Conway was just 0.002s ahead of Piquet Jr. as they tucked in behind the #8 e.Dams machine. Group 3 The two Renault built Techeetahs of Jean-Éric Vergne and hit the circuit in group three, and after practice both seemed to be entertaining hopes of a Super Pole spot. Oliver Turvey would also run in the second NextEV NIO, while would be looking to out-qualify stand-in teammate Conway. was in a similar position to d'Ambrosio in wanting to beat his new teammate, although the Frenchman had the disadvantage of running earlier. Unsurprisingly it was Vergne who ended the session fastest of the group three qualifiers, the Frenchman just missing out on beating Buemi by 0.103s. The Frenchman was fortunate to get his time in, for Sarrazin suffered an electrical glitch on his full power lap, and had briefly stopped out on circuit. The Frenchman would therefore start dead last. Elsewhere, Turvey claimed third overall ahead of an impressive Gutierrez, the pair split by Lopez, while d'Ambrosio failed, rather surprisingly, to beat temporary teammate Conway. Group 4 The final quintet was not expected to see anyone entertain thoughts of Super Pole, unless there was a dramatic improvement in track conditions. Tom Dillmann would make his FE quali debut for Venturi, while the vastly more experienced Nick Heidfeld of Mahindra was favourite. The two Andrettis of and Robin Frijns, as well as the second Jaguar of Adam Carroll completed the quintet. As expected, the final quintet was a dead-rubber, with no major changes to the overall order. That said, Heidfeld came agonisingly close to the Super Pole spots, falling shy of Gutierrez's time by just 0.014s, and so ended the session fastest of the final four. Elsewhere, Dillmann managed to beat two disappointing efforts from da Costa and Carroll, while Frijns managed to grab a top ten spot by edging out Evans. Super Pole It was Gutierrez who got underway first in the Super Pole shootout, although the Mexican's debut in the quali-finale did not go to plan as he went sailing down an escape road after misjudging his braking. Lopez went next, and a clean effort for the Argentine put him on provisional pole, although he was two tenths slower than his group effort. Then it was Turvey's turn, although the Brit's single attempt was not good enough to topple Lopez. Home hero Vergne was next to step out onto the circuit, and a lively performance saw the Frenchman claim a 1:02.325, less than half a tenth slower than he had gone in the group stages. Only Buemi could deny him pole, and it immediately became clear that he and the Swiss racer were very equally matched. Near identical sectors by Buemi gave the home fans hope, but when the Swiss racer swept across the line he was up on Vergne by 0.006s. It was therefore Buemi on pole ahead of Vergne, while Gutierrez would line up alongside Lopez once Turvey was slapped with a ten place penalty for changing a motor. Post Qualifying The final qualifying results for the are outlined below: ** Turvey received a ten place grid penalty for changing the motor in his car. Race It was an overcast but dry afternoon in Paris ahead of the sixth ePrix of the season, with temperatures hitting a relatively cool 18C just before the start. Pole sitter was confident ahead of the start, while Parisian Jean-Éric Vergne hoped to challenge for a home win. There was only one change to the starting order as the field assembled on the grid, Oliver Turvey relegated to fourteenth after a late motor change. Report A perfect start by pole sitter Buemi ensured that he would lead the field into the first corner, although Vergne did try a move around the outside of the Swiss racer, only to get squeezed out. maintained third, just falling shy of a run of Vergne, while lost out to a fast starting Nick Heidfeld. Behind, the two Dragons of and Mike Conway made minor contact with each other, while Turvey picked up some minor bodywork damage to his car in the middle of the pack. Buemi managed to build a one second lead at the end of the opening tour, leaving Vergne to fend off a half-hearted challenge from Lopez at the start of the second lap. Behind came Heidfeld and Gutierrez, although the latter would open the second lap defending from Felix Rosenqvist into turn one. The rest of the field were led by Robin Frijns, with title pretender Lucas di Grassi making little progress down in fifteenth. It was a very tame start to the race, with Rosenqvist the only man to make a move inside the top five, darting past Gutierrez for fifth position. He soon joined teammate Heidfeld in sprinting after the lead trio of Buemi, Vergne and Lopez, while Gutierrez was left to fight on in sixth. Indeed, the Mexican racer was really struggling for pace as the laps ticked away, with a long queue forming behind the Techeetah in short order. The Gutierrez queue extended in a near solid line from sixth to thirteenth, with a second line of cars encompassing Tom Dillmann in fourteenth down to in last just a second behind. The closest challenger to Gutierrez proved to be Robin Frijns, although the Dutchman's attempts to get past the Mexican ended in failure. Frijns' Andretti teammate had better joy in the middle of the pack, squeezing past di Grassi on lap fifteen. Indeed, di Grassi and da Costa would become the centre of attention as the pitstops loomed ever closer, the Brazilian trying everything to get back past the Portuguese racer. Ahead, Nelson Piquet Jr. slapped the wall and dropped down from eleventh to sixteenth, before attention snapped back to da Costa and di Grassi. Indeed, on lap twenty the Brazilian finally managed to get a run on the Andretti, although as the pair hit the brakes for turn eight the Brazilian made an aggressive decision. Having got the run on the Andretti, di Grassi decided to squeeze the Portuguese race towards the inside wall, hoping to prevent a dive on the brakes by da Costa. However, da Costa kept his foot on the throttle and refused to move, resulting in the two coming together as they braked for the tight right hander. da Costa duly slammed the wall and smashed his suspension, while di Grassi had to spin himself back around having slipped to the back of the field after the pair slithered into the barriers on the opposite side of the track. da Costa was left to climb out of his car, which required a Full Course Yellow to remove from the barriers. As the FCY came out, Mitch Evans led a bunch of cars into the pits at the start of lap 21, shortly before the optimal pit window. As they changed, Buemi, Vergne, Lopez, Heidfeld, Gutierrez, Frijns and Nicolas Prost came in from the lead, leaving Rosenqvist, Conway and Turvey on circuit as the only ones not to stop. In the shake up of the stops, di Grassi somehow emerged in the top ten, promoted to tenth as Rosenqvist and Turvey stopped just as the FCY was withdrawn. The Brazilian was immediately placed under investigation for not completing the minimum pitstop time, having gained some ten seconds over the rest of the field. Out front, meanwhile, Conway boldly decided to stay out beyond the FCY, meaning he technically led the race from Buemi. Conway finally pitted at the end of lap 26, a gamble that did not pay off as his 70 second stop saw him lapped before he came back out of the pits. di Grassi, meanwhile, was fighting with Gutierrez and Prost, completing two identical dives into turn one on laps 29 and 30. In the midst of his mid-race charge the Brazilian was slapped with a drive-through penalty for failing to meet the minimum pitstop time, effectively ending his change of points. As the Brazilian pulled into the pitlane, Prost finally made a move stick on Gutierrez, a move into the chicane that also opened the door for Daniel Abt. As they sprinted clear of the Mexican, Vergne was hunting down Buemi out front, the pair just a second apart with fifteen laps to go. However, the Parisian's race would come to an unfortunate end with a steering failure through thirteen, causing the Techeetah to slam into the outside wall. Vergne climbed out of the bent Techeetah unaided, although the location of his accident meant that a safety car was required to retrieve it from the barriers. Buemi's five second advantage over Lopez was reduced to nothing in an instant, while the lapped Conway and Bird found themselves between the Argentine and the two Mahindras in the queue. di Grassi, meanwhile, had decided to go for fastest lap rather than try and climb up the order, meaning he sat in the pits while the safety car was out to change his car's setup. With Vergne's car removed the race was back underway with twelve laps still to run, although Buemi almost ruined his restart by mistiming his charge from the head of the pack, nearly catching the safety car again as it pulled into the pits. Yet, Lopez lacked the pace to challenge the Swiss into the first corner, meaning Buemi was clear to re-establish his lead. Otherwise, it was a rather tame restart, the only moves coming as lapped cars were elbowed out of the way by the charging pack. Into the closing stages and Evans was the man making the moves, diving past Sarrazin in his hunt for points after a messy pit stop. Up the road, Sarrazin's teammate Dillmann was having a scrap with Gutierrez and Piquet, with Evans closing onto the back of the trio having dealt with Sarrazin. As they fought the final in-race penalties were issued, with Frijns and Gutierrez slapped with five second penalties for speeding under the FCY. At the back of the field, meanwhile, di Grassi, Bird and d'Ambrosio were fighting to score fastest lap, all having abandoned their hunt for a top ten finish having run at the back all afternoon. As they fought by proxy, Buemi was inching clear of Lopez, while the two Mahindras watched on unable to match the pace out front. Frijns was fighting with his five second handicap, fending off a challenge from Prost, moments before di Grassi misjudged his braking point into turn eight and slammed into the barriers. With di Grassi's ABT Schaeffler stuck in the wall the race was over with two laps to go, for the safety car was called to recover the abandoned car. However, quick work from the marshals saw the Schaeffler removed before the final laps started, meaning the officials were able to get the race restarted on the final lap. Although that would not affect the order out front, it did provide some late race entertainment with those that had five second penalties. Indeed, as Buemi sprinted away to claim victory, Gutierrez down in seventh decided hold his own sprint, slowing to a crawl to bunch the field up behind him. As he did so, Abt hit trouble and stopped in the circuit, moments before Gutierrez slammed on the throttle and sprinted away from his little huddle, encompassing seventh to sixteenth, although the last three of those were a lap down. Unfortunately for the Mexican racer the gamble did not payoff, as everyone bar Abt got within five seconds of him across the line, meaning he slipped from seventh to twelfth. Well away from Gutierrez's brawl, Buemi was declared the winner from Lopez and Heidfeld, another dominant display by the Swiss racer. Rosenqvist came home in fourth ahead of Frijns and Prost, although the latter two were reversed as a result of the Dutchman's five second penalty. He, however, benefited from Gutierrez's antics, which effectively created a thirty second gap into which the #27 Andretti fell into. Result The final classification of the is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold. * Indicates a driver was awarded FanBoost during the race. ** Frijns and Gutierrez were handed five second time penalties for speeding during the FCY. Milestones * Second Paris ePrix to be staged. * Debut for Tom Dillmann. * Mike Conway made his first Formula E start since the 2016 London ePrix II. * 25th start for Jean-Éric Vergne. * Eleventh victory for Sébastien Buemi. * Fourteenth victory earned by e.Dams. ** Also the tenth triumph for Renault as a manufacturer. * Maiden podium finish for José María López. * Nick Heidfeld made his fifth visit to the rostrum. * Dillmann earned a maiden points finish. Standings Pole and victory combined allowed to enhance his lead in the Championship, the Swiss racer heading into the second half of the season with a 43 point advantage. Lucas di Grassi remained the only man seemingly capable of keeping Buemi in sight, with third placed Nicolas Prost a further 31 points away. Elsewhere, Nick Heidfeld moved back into the top five, overtaking Jean-Éric Vergne on the way to fourth, while Tom Dillmann's maiden points finish meant there were 21 scorers in the 2016/17 edition of the FIA Formula E Championship. Renault e.Dams benefited from the double non-score of ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport to extend their lead in the Teams' Championship, the French squad leaving their home race with 190 points on the board. The German squad were 75 points away as the only other team in triple figures for the season, although they seemed set to finish at least as high as second. Third placed Mahindra Racing managed to pull away from the chasing pack, while Techeetah slipped behind DS Virgin Racing and NextEV NIO after a miserable day in Paris. Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown. References Videos and Images: * References: Category:2016/17 ePrix Category:Paris ePrix